One final spot left on the 2010 F1 grid – who could get it and who won’t

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The hunt is on to find a replacement for BMW

All the active F1 teams bar BMW have signed the Concorde Agreement committing them to F1 until the end of 2012.

But with BMW withdrawing their team next year, and former team owner Peter Sauber unable to complete a takeover bid before the deadline for signing the Concorde Agreement, there are doubts over whether the team will be rescued.

The FIA has therefore announced it is re-opening bids for the final slot on the grid, using the same process by which it appointed Manor, Campos Meta 1 and USF1 earlier this year. Who will win the final space on the grid?

Who could get it

Sauber

On paper The Team Formerly Known As BMW are the front runners – it’s effectively a turn-key operation providing a buyer can be found quickly in order for development to continue on the 2010 car. They will also need a new engine supplier.

But I couldn’t help but notice hiw dejected Peter Sauber seemed at having failed to achieve a rescue of the team at the very short notice needed to get the Concorde Agreement signed:

I am incredibly disappointed and disconsolate. For me this is the bitterest day in my 40-year career in motor sport.
Peter Sauber

Although he can still obtain the final slot in F1 for the team, this remark suggests to me there may be complications preventing BMW from becoming an independent team as easily as Honda did with Brawn.

Epsilon Euskadi

The Spanish outfit were first out of the traps in declaring their desire to take BMW’s place. They were also on the reserve list after the FIA’s first tender for new teams for 2010.

Prodrive

Prodrive have also expressed an interest in taking the final space on the grid. It is widely believed they had a Mercedes engine deal in place for 2010, which did not sit well with the FIA’s desire for the new teams to use Cosworths.

Superfund

The entry headed by ex-F1 driver Alexander Wurz was another that made the reserve list for 2010.

Who won’t

N.Technology

After the first tender N.Technology won a place on the reserve list. But in June it withdrew its application and angrily criticised the FIA’s selection process.

Its parent company MSC is now taking the FIA to court over the selection process.

Lola

Much like N.Technology, Lola applied, failed, made the reserve list, and then withdrew.

Anyone without a Cosworth…

The controversy surrounding the FIA’s selection process concerns whether they demanded new entrants use the FIA-backed Cosworth power plants. This explains why some of the most well-regarded potential entrants such as Prodrive failed to make the cut.

One potential 2010 entrant, Zoran Stefanovic, has gone to the EU to complain about the selection process.

The appearance of Manor on the list of the three new teams for 2010 was a surprise If the FIA sticks to its pro-Cosworth tactics, we could have another unexpected name in F1 next year.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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82 comments on “One final spot left on the 2010 F1 grid – who could get it and who won’t”

  1. Prisoner Monkeys
    9th August 2009, 7:23

    I wouldn’t be too surprised if Sauber gets involved with someone like Euskadi. Epsilon-Sauber Sport or something. It makes sense; Euskadi have the backing, Sauber has the name. And while not as famous as the name Williams, Sauber is a name that shouldn’t be allowed to die unless Peter Sauber decides it is time to end his involvement.

    If Sauber decides to go his own way, it will probably come down to him or Epsilon Euskadi. Prodrive’s last attempt at entering Formula One is probably fresh in everyone’s minds, so it’s a case of once bitten, twice shy. I think a lot of that had to do with the decision not to grant them a position in the first place. A lot of their chances will rest of how Richards reacts, really; he’s criticised the FIA lately – for the same reasons as Stefanovic, I think – and Mosley and his boys have never been ones to take criticism lightly.

    As for Team Superfund, I haven’t really heard anything about them since they annouced their application and expressed disappointment at not making the grade. I know they attempted to establish their own single-seat formula and failed utterly, but that may have been a case of biting off more than they can chew. That said, from the way they described their application – and their optimism – they did seem to me as if they were treating the team as a pet project, so the question has to be asked: are they really serious, or is this just a knee-jerk reaction to the success of fellow Austrians Red Bull?

    While it’s likely to come to whoever is willing to nominate a Cosworth, I have heard that Cosworth is only willing to supply three teams because that’s all they have the capacity for. If a new team is accepted with something other than Cosworth, it will mean more trouble because Manor, Campos and USF1 will likely question their engines. A buyout of the team may be the only way forward to get a different engine, but I’ve heard dark rumours that BMW deliberately demanded too much so that Sauber’s management buyout would fail and spare the manufacturer the embarrassment of a Brawn-esque comeback in 2010. If that’s true, who is going to be willing to meet BMW’s extoritionate price simply to make the grid?

  2. Max should resign now!!!
    9th August 2009, 7:23

    I hope Prodrive gets it…

    1. Prisoner Monkeys
      9th August 2009, 7:35

      Why? Because they’re Prodrive? Because they stick it to Max? Neither are very good reasons; whoever gets it will get it based on having the best overall package.

      Dave Richards is a pretty outspoken person at times. And don’t forget that he won the grid opening for 2008, and then persisted with a customer chassis instead of exploring other alternatives. Everyone assumed Prodrive would get one of the three openings, but rather pointedly overlooked their inability to keep their promises and make 2008.

      (By the way, what are you going to do about your name when Mosley is gone?)

      1. Amazing that you decide to assume why he said so, and then put him down. He could just be a huge fan of Prodrive, no?

      2. but rather pointedly overlooked their inability to keep their promises and make 2008.

        Which was entirely the FIA’s fault, not Prodrive’s. Prodrive said they would come in using the customer chassis rules and the FIA failed to get the regulations approved. Can’t blame Prodrive for that.

        1. Prisoner Monkeys
          9th August 2009, 9:33

          But you can blame them for not considering other alternatives. Right from the beginning, the concept of a customer chassis was controversial, a point of contention since the very beginning. Dave Richards should have had a contingency plan in place in the event nothing came of customer chassis regulations, which he plainly didn’t do.

          And even if Richards was totally in the right there and then, when was the last time the FIA acknowledged they screwed up? Regardless of who was to blame for Prodrive’s inability to make the 2008 lineup, the FIA will only remember that they were singled out from twenty-two applicants and still failed to make it.

          1. Dave Richards should have had a contingency plan in place in the event nothing came of customer chassis regulations,

            No, he needn’t have. The FIA sets the rules, it’s not up to Prodrive to second-guess them.

          2. Prisoner Monkeys
            9th August 2009, 10:40

            The FIA sets the rules, it’s not up to Prodrive to second-guess them.

            But it is up to them to plan ahead. I’m not saying the FIA is blame-free, but surely someone like Dave Richards – who knew the sport, knows how the FIA operates – would plan for all outcomes. The phrase “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” springs to mind.

          3. It’s a completely unnecessary expense to make. The rules are to be in place, why spend huge amounts of capital designing your own chassis when the rules that are proposed themselves state it is OK?

          4. @Prisoner Monkeys,

            They would indeed need to plan ahead, but only within the broad set of regs set down by the governing body. You can’t hedge against the governing body itself – because in that case the space of possible changes is infinitely large.

          5. Wasn’t it clear when they made that 2008 entry that they would use a customer-chassis from the very beginning? the FIA accepted them then knowing Prodrive’s plans, instead of turning them down or making the rules clear once they’d been selected.

            I really wanted Prodrive too actually.

          6. Its impossible to plan for contingencies in the event that the FIA changes one or more of their rules. There simply would have to be too many contingency plans and no one would ever be able to develop a car to race. Should they have to have contingency plans in case the sport decides on short notice that they are suddenly going diesel? How about if effective immediately all the cars are limited to three wheels? (Granted Renault has recently given that a try.) Or what if rear wings are banned? My point is there are an infinite number of changes that could be made to the large number of technical specs set forth by the FIA. Teams must make their plans based upon the rules that FIA has in place at the time. FIA has a responsibility to make any changes in the regs far enough in advance that all teams are able to adjust to them. The fact that the FIA changed its mind at the last minute puts the blame squarely at the FIA’s feet and can’t be held against Prodrive.

          7. I agree with that- if Richards coulden’t build his own car for 2007 and instread inteded to freeload off McLaren and get into the sport, who’s to say they could build the car now?

        2. What ever hapened to the 50M deposit Prodrive had to put up for the 08 slot?

          1. The requirement to lodge a deposit was abolished before that I think.

          2. Kieth: Are you sure about that?

          3. Off the top of my head, I think it was dropped for the 2007 season. I remember Super Aguri had to pay it, there was a problem with them not making the deadline. I think they were the last team that had to, and that would have been in 2006.

      3. Max should resign now!!!
        9th August 2009, 20:27

        @ Prisoner Monkeys

        whoever gets it will get it based on having the best overall package.

        LMAO!!! :)

        Hi well first you should just chill for a bit, second of all the whole process for picking up new entries was a fraud (eg. If you’re not runnning on Cosworth engines you’re gone!)if you remember well the strongest names were Lola, Prodrive and well USGPE looked like they had a shot because they were from the states.
        Ok having that in mind I would have preferred Lola to have gain the entry but they have withdrawn their application so well Prodrive seams like they have the money and the staff for competing next year (in the case they get the slot). So any problems with that? Has Richards killed your mum or something?

        PS: Yeah my name…I just found this site (excellent site!!!)during the whole political soap opera and I started posting using it and yes I pretty much hate Mosley, again any problems with that?

        1. No problem with the name, but I do wonder what you’ll do with it when he dose step down. I think PM was asking that out of genuine curiosity rather than anyhting else.

      4. they do have an overall good package. it’s Prodrive!

  3. No one will get it because BMW-Sauber will be bought out.

    1. Prisoner Monkeys
      9th August 2009, 7:47

      But by whom? Prodrive or Euskadi could easily do it.

      1. Dave Richards will no to enter F1 to become bankrupt, he was allways strong on F1 being cost effective. The idea that BMW would rather lose the team than see someone else do a better job, appeals to me, particularly as there is a strong suggestion that Theissen would be willing to lead the new team…lets hope that this scenario remains just that..I think an agreement will be reached as Sauber still has a large interest, he will want to see his baby survive, as we write there will be deals being made which will find a good solution to this, could be one of several teams, but Euskadi are well-funded, and it is a ready-made team, like all businessman they will try to get a bargain, we could be waiting for answers up to testing next year….

    2. With BMW-Sauber not having signed the Concorde, whoever buys them will not automatically get an entry for 2010.

      1. Bigbadderboom
        9th August 2009, 12:04

        But they would remain favourites with the operation in full swing already.

        1. I dont know about that. In my opinion BMW have made a mistake for not settling with Sauber. It may be too late now since FIA will reopen the bid anyway.

          This FIA announcement may however put pressure on BMW to settle with Sauber for a reasonable price, but that still does not guarantee them entry. If BMW do not sell they will lose everything, ….it is better for them to sell out then to be stuck with nothing.

  4. better petronas buy the team….petronas f1 team!!!!1st asian f1 team.

    1. What is Force India then?

    2. Or Toyota?

      1. Prisoner Monkeys
        9th August 2009, 9:50

        Super Aguri? Honda?

        Perhaps the first South-East Asian Formula one team …

        1. lol first asian f1 team

    3. Maki? Kojima?

    4. ha. even Midland had a Russian license!

  5. There is definitley something blocking Peter Sauber from buying out BMW. Even though he owns 20% perhaps theres a clause that says hes not allowed to buy them out, so hes trying to get someone to buy them out for him.

    1. Prisoner Monkeys
      9th August 2009, 9:49

      He said that BMW’s demands were too high.

      The darker rumours suggest that BMW management did it deliberately, so as to prevent a Sauber-backed management buyout and then showing up in 2010 and humiliating BMW, much the way Brawn did to Honda.

      1. Bigbadderboom
        9th August 2009, 12:10

        It is far less likely though for Sauber to do a “Brawn” BMW gave up last year for this year (in terms of development), as did Honda, so the time frame is a year behind, anybody taking on BMW would not have the advantages Ross Brawn had when taking Honda.
        I think you are right Prisoner Monkeys in respect that BMW are trying to hold off Peter Sauber, but I think they are simply trying to get a better price for their product, and maybe trying to provide a better deal for the teams employees.
        I still think that the ex-BMW team will take the last grid position in one form or another.

    2. The thing that is blocking Sauber from buying out BMW is that he doesn’t have the cash. If he did, he never would have sold out in the first place and would have stayed independent.

    1. because!!

      1. correct!!

  6. i think prodrive would be in a good position to get in, they at least are active in racing, have a track record of performance, are profitable and stable with sponsors they could tap into immediately and the contacts to expand on.

    not a random startup with backers that could fall over in a year or two.

    prodrive have the staff and resources already, along with bases in china and australia, why they didn’t get in the first time around in front of USF1 baffles me – considering bernie / FIA apparently aren’t interested in the US market…

    1. What Bernie dosen’t like about the U.S.market is two things:

      1. We don’t have local/state/federal governments willing to fork over hundreds of millions to build a Tilkedrome, then fork $30 mil a year over to a bloodsucking private equity operation to put on a race. The USA is not a developing nations…it’s a developed one, with plenty of other options for promoters to line up for entertaiment puropses. Which leads me to my next point…

      2. We have a full range of domestic-based sporting series, including NASCAR, that has the attention of mainstream America. Rather than be smart and follow the European fotball/soccer leagues and develop a strategy to best tap into the U.S. market, Bernie throws his toys out of his pram (as some of you guys like to say) and gives up on America, all because he actually needs to do some marketing/promotional work and strategy for people to elarn about and be interested in his product.

      Bernie is interested in the markets that will make him the most money with no hassles…he’s not interested in working on equal terms or finding a price good for everyone.

  7. Prodrive are not serious about entering F1 until there are customer cars. Richards doesn’t want to spend time hiring engineers to design cars, or operating large wind tunnels. He is used to a manufacturer providing the equipment and he just running it. Even while at BAR, Honda provided everything. If he was serious about F1 he would have bought Honda for $1.

    BMW have made their assets almost worthless overnight. No team wants to be based in Switzerland. The equipments and infrastructure they have are not easily relocatable, apart from maybe their 2 super computers. Not even sure they will want to sell them.

    Even if a buyer comes forward now, there is no guarantee he will get the available slot. So why buy expensive equipments to watch gather dust. Why didn’t they just sign the concord agreement, then sell the team. A name is easier to change than it is to get entry into F1.

    I still have a feeling BMW is really interested in destroying everything rather than selling it. If we assume they were using F1 for marketing, as far as I know, you can’t sell of your brand advertising to another company, only maybe your advert space. But if your advert space is on land about to be repossessed, then that too is worthless.

    1. Perhaps BMW wanted to ensure that they either:

      1. Make a decent profit of this, or
      2. Failing the former, destroy everything to avoid getting embarrassed ala Brawn/Honda.

      Different carmakers, different approaches.

      1. I agree with your #1 statement. It simply is making decent profit. Or at least covering all their costs. Maybe Sauber is the one who was offering the unreasonable amount, we will never know until we see some figures.

    2. I still have a feeling BMW is really interested in destroying everything rather than selling it.

      Perhaps they get a tax break if they do that :D

      While we’re speculating around this: another incentive to destroy an asset is to hide creative book-keeping (shoveling unrelated losses into the soon-to-be-destroyed asset).

      Can’t wait for the racing to start. Especially Spa.

  8. Mussolini's Pet Cat
    9th August 2009, 15:47

    Ok Ok, I’ll do it…

  9. Can you see now why Sir Frank refused to increase his partnership with BMW?? Many thought he was crazy to turn down the offer of becoming a manufacturer team at a time when big-spending manufacturers were becoming the norm. Max even told him his business model was obsolete.

    How times change.

    1. Mussolini's Pet Cat
      9th August 2009, 17:50

      When it comes to all matters F1, don’t bother trying to wrong foot Sir Frank Williams.

      1. Indeed. I was concerned at the time that it could spell the end of Williams when BMW left. Coincidentally, was that the last time Cosworth was on the grid?

    2. Well if it was a Williams-BMW there likely wouldn’t have been any problems. But a BMW-Williams is another matter.

  10. “– who knew the sport, knows how the FIA operates – would plan for all outcomes.”

    Deciding not to play could have been a planned outcome on Prodrive’s part. I have to believe they invested heavily on the customer car platform under which they were chosen back in ’08. Sometimes it takes more courage to walk away than continue tilting at windmills.

    I also approve of BMW’s exit strategy. We all get caught up in the humanistic strategy of continuing to support a business and their employees, as Honda did. BMW have recognized the failure of their management and are prepared to write it off in it’s entirety as opposed to continue subsidizing the effort the way Honda has with Brawn. Or receive fair dollar value for their assets. While still making a marginal profit the bean counters will find a way to write off BMW’s racing losses.

    Brawn is far from being self supporting, their is no published news or rumors of sponsorship for next year. Let’s re-visit Brawn at the end of 2010 to see how successful the Honda-Brawn transition truly is.

  11. The Guardian reckon Epsilon Euskadi are the front runners, though it doesn’t say what they’re basing that on:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/aug/09/f1-bmw-sauber-epsilon-euskadi

    1. as usual.

    2. Can’t wait for F1 to become a F3 style series full of little teams. NOT

      1. dont worry, these little teams will wash out in about 2 years, when they realize that limited money and budget cap doesn’t actually work. In order for them to develop their cars they also need to have great brains and exceptional engineers (which you have to pay and offer top dollar) to become competitive. On the end of the day, regardless of this retarded “cost capping” rule, the teams that can afford will always have the ability to develop their cars more efficiently.

  12. Prodrive is eventually supposed to bring Aston Martin into the sport, right? At least that is what I always understood. That is the only reason I would like to see Prodrive come into the sport. It is the first step in getting all of the major engine producers into F1.

    I would also like to see Zoran get that last spot. I would love to see what kind of car a real Aerospace company could build.

    Obviously thought, I should get it. My team would the sexiest F1 name ever, ‘Brian’s GP’. Thats right, I said it.

    1. yeah would love to see an Aston Martin team in F1! with a nice dark green livery. however I doubt they’d build/run an Aston Martin engine (unfortunately). probs ask mercedes for one…

      1. I’d prefer a Gulf livery :D

  13. Sauber still has an operation all ready to go, and probably are already working on the 2010 car, which with both Sauber and BMW’s history will be pretty good.

    So I would say that Sauber is probably still the front runner, but as has been said before, who will buy it and what engines. Cosworth would be the cheapest powerplant, but someone who has the financial clout could come along and enter F1.

    Hyundai said a few years ago that it planned to enter F1 by 2010. This could be their chance. And the credit crunch hasn’t been so harsh towards them, so they couyld easily enter. A rebadged Cosworth engine and hey presto – Hyundai F1 Team.

    Just a thought.

    1. something about a hyundai f1 team doesnt sit right with me…

      maybe if they made a fast production car first…

      1. that is true..

  14. I can’t see Prodrive getting the nod. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the customer cars debacle, the fact remains that Prodrive were granted an entry for 2008 and failed to make the grid. That has to count against them, and if it doesn’t then the FIA are even more shambolically disorganised than previously thought.

    1. Max is still in power and playing manipulative games all the way. So, I’d say FIA are just as disorganized as before.

  15. No matter who deserves it… Its all polities (and mandatory signing with Cosworth engines…) FIA sucks! It’s corruption on its higher level, thanks to Mr. Mad Max and Bernie Dollars…

    1. and that continues to happen

  16. Prodrive won’t get it. FIA would much rather see F1 become a single engined Formula full of GP2/F3 teams. Bad times

    1. Single engined Formula 1 will never happen. Ferrari, McLaren will never agree to it. The new Concorde agreement wont allow FIA to forcibly implement any new rules against the wishes of any one of the teams. Hence that will never ever occur.

  17. I don’t really understand why there is this preoccupation with Prodrive, is it just because they are a familiar name? Lower series teams like Manor and Campos may seem a poorer option but at least they’re promising their own cars and not just running copies of other cars on the grid. Why complain about a single engine formula of Cosworth users and then promote McLaren B as a better alternative? It makes no sense.

    I’d favour either whatever happens to BMW Sauber or Epsilon Euskadi. It may even be the latter’s indication of interest in taking over the slot last week that prompted the FIA to make this rapid move.

    1. Prodrive intend to bring the Aston Martin name, which would be a great brand to have in F1: https://www.racefans.net/2009/05/29/aston-martin-announces-f1-entry/

    2. Prodrive, I think, are the most established racing company out of all the reserve entrants, with experience in many other racing series including the (FIA) WRC.

      I have a feeling they will get it, just because of the Cosworth shambles and the FIA now wanting to look at least a little bit clean. We shall see.

  18. I have a completely non F1 question. What year did the show ‘Spaced’ air on British television?
    I just watched it over here in Canada on hulu.com.

      1. Thanks. I don’t know why I didn’t think of going to that site in the first place. lol

    1. I remember watching the first episode of the first series in Bath, whilst eating cold toast. I remember this because I had just stepped on a slug in my bare feet 10 minutes previous and hence the eating of the toast was delayed allowing it to lose heat.

  19. I found Peter Sauber’s comments dishearting too, but I still hold firm on my belief that something may be salvaged from the ruins of BMW Sauber.
    If Sauber is as far out of the loop as appears, then I fancy Prodrive to take that lone position left on the 2010 grid. They were my firm favourites to take over the former Honda team, before Ross Brawn stepped in and made them his own. Dave Richards is a wily character, abit like Brawn, and he has the knowledge and the dough to make a difference.
    As others have mentioned before, BAR Honda were not the same without Richards on the scene, and I bet good money on the fact that he is itching to get back in the game.
    As with Honda, the outfit left behind when BMW pulled out are very capable indeed. Its just too attractive a proposition for someone to turn down, providing they have the cash behind them and an adequate engine supplier.
    This new Spanish team are also a possibility, but my gut says that Prodrive will take over.

  20. F1 needs a non manufacturer engine supplier that is viable and 1-2 customers won’t do it. Maybe alternates may emerge like Mechachrome if Renault implodes or even Toyota using the US model if they pull out but due to the dirth of other possibilities doesn’t it mean fans should be viewing a viable no. of Cosworth teams as a positive?

    I don’t think the tragic white knight stuff on Sauber does much for the equation either. A bit like Branson or Ecclestone or even Brawn on the flip we are talking about people who sell high and will only put their own money back on the line when it is so low that it is virtually given away.

    And how come so little talk about the Concorde? We hear one sided statements about various parties signing their various versions but is that 1 complete set of signatures on 1 agreed document yet or is it just a negotiating stance by the various factions?

    1. And how come so little talk about the Concorde? We hear one sided statements about various parties signing their various versions but is that 1 complete set of signatures on 1 agreed document yet or is it just a negotiating stance by the various factions?

      With Max still in power who is to know what was, and what was not, signed. Maybe the letters will magically change after the agreement is signed.

  21. It should be noted that Prodrive only intend to enter if a customer chassis can be used.This is how the fully intended to enter F1.Somehow I don’t see customer chassis being allowed in 2010.

  22. I really hope Prodrive get the last spot. They have done incredibly well in WRC and at Le Mans, I feel it would just be a matter of time before they could field a competitive F1 car. And don’t tell me you all wouldn’t love to see an Aston Martin in Gulf colours on the Grid!

    That said their customer chassis plans and lack of Cosworth Power won’t help them when the FIA consider their application.

  23. there doing a brawn tbh. they will pull out and get some pumped up team and win half of the races in 2010 then loose it

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